And this is why...

Ally is NOT going to Colorado. Every time I put a coat, sweatshirt or socks on this girl this is the face I get. Not just a simple fit but actual tears! It's a really good thing that we live here in Texas or we would have a serious problem. :) Every year that Mark has worked for NFIB he has had the opportunity to win a trip if he obtains a certain number of sales. He has somehow managed to win every single year...so proud of you Mark! We have been fortunate to go to some very cool places the last 10 years. This year his trip is to Keystone, CO. We were really hoping that the whole family would be able to go, but after a lot of prayer for wisdom we decided that Ally is going to stay here with her Honey and GP. I think that she wouldn't have much fun seeing how you MUST wear socks and a coat in Colorado! I really struggled with this decision because I really wanted the Wood 4-pack to go together. Ultimately I think that we made the right decision. I just have guilt taking one child and leaving the other one, ya know?! It's pretty funny though, I keep asking her if she wants to go to Colorado and every time she says, "no way!" She knew her mommy needed help with this decision. Thank you Jenn G. for this adorable snowsuit...if only she would wear it!

Check out this little look...in all of 2 minutes she had her hat off and was trying to get this snowsuit off.

This little man is super excited to fly on an airplane and go to ski school. Here's hoping that excitement lasts for 4 more weeks. We leave on Feb. 26th.

New Landscape!

Well after 6 years of living in our house we finally got some rockin' landscape! Thank you very much Creighton Bennett & Associates you did a fantastic job. I know you are probably wondering why I am including this post but to the Wood family this is a huge deal. My dad built our home in 2002 after we relocated to Waco from Arlington. When we moved from Arlington we were the proud owners of a home there so we were on a super tight budget. Landscaping was a easy thing to cut out. Needless to say our home in Arlington did not sell for 2 years! Let's just put it mildly and say that was a rough patch for us, financially, spiritually, and emotionally. It was so hard on Mark, who was out working his tail off just to have his hard earned money cover 2 mortgage payments every month!!! Our house finally sold (which is another crazy story...we were going to foreclose and this couple finally bought our house only to break in and repaint the entire inside before we closed. It was just the strangest thing ever, but we were just thankful to be done with it.) and by now we were proud parents to Ryan and landscaping was way down on the list. We were still financially recovering and it just seemed that we were hit with huge expense after huge expense. So now we are in debt and miserable and just living paycheck to paycheck. It was really ridiculous because Mark makes a very good living and we were paying crazy interest on credit cards and cars etc... If you have ever experienced financial strain then I know you can appreciate our little story. I won't tell you the exact amount of debt for fear of judgement but it was a lot....a whole lot:0. We are so thankful that we are now debt free and we credit that only to the LORD! God performed what I know was a miracle and one of our debts was literally erased...like it had never ever existed. To see something like that happen to us was crazy. I still get chills thinking about that. So to us this new landscape is a real tangible way that we can see the Lord's provision. Honestly I look outside and it's one of those things that I just thought would never, ever happen. What a lesson in humility and trust.

Before

During

After

"They will fight aganist you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord. Jer 1:19

Singing in the ...Livingroom

Ally got a new umbrella for Christmas this year and it is one of her FAVORITE things to play with. These pictures aren't that great but you get the idea. She calls the umbrella her kite:) and she twirls around almost everyday playing with this treasured gift. Thanks so much Honey and GP! Here she is in action.

Here's a conversation I had with with little miss umbrella last week:

Me: Ally you are such a good girl!

Ally: Yes. Ryan's good boy too. And Daddy's good boy.

Me: Yes they are, what about mommy?

Ally: Mommy's TOO NAUGHTY!

Me: (laughing) what?

Ally: MOMMY"S TOO NAUGHTY

Well if the shoe fits...

Seriously...what did you say?

I always like a good makeup tip and boy did I get one yesterday. I got in the car and began to put on my mascara. Unfortunately this is an almost daily ritual for my kids to witness. I am not proud of this but it's just a fact (remember what I said about 10am). I am notoriously running late because I sleep until the last possible second making mascara application a necessity in my car. In fact I was running so late this past Sunday morning to church that I completely forgot to apply my mascara at all....a not so beautiful sight!!! Anyway, as I pulled out my Loreal Voluminous Mascara Ryan asked me if that was my Spinlash mascara. What? Can you repeat that? He said again, "Mommy is that Spinlash mascara?" Now I have no idea what he's talking about so he begins to tell me and I quote, "spinlash mascara is way better than regular mascara because of the 360 degree rotating brush."...Seriously that is what he said. I immediately knew he had seen some commercial or something so I pumped him for a little more information. He said that he sees this commercial all the time on Max and Ruby and it's guaranteed to work. Well, if it's guaranteed....:) So ladies here's Ryan's makeup tip of the week: visit http://www.spinlash.com/ for all your mascara needs. Who knows maybe I will try it. It does look pretty awesome!

Jumping Party!

This weekend we got to go to one of our very favorite places, Jumping party, for Blaine's 5th birthday. Blaine and Ryan both LOVE Star Wars (as you can tell from their t-shirts:), so we were thrilled to go to this party! Here are some pictures of the fun...

The Birthday boy

Ally loves moving this "person" around. Every time we go there she plays with the walk slow sign...

Cheese! (poor baby got her mommy's teeth...thank goodness for braces!)

Awesome slide dude:)

Ally was a little timid this trip she wanted to stay close to her momma..which is fine with me!

One of my very favorite things to see Ally hugging her big brother!

OK, this picture really makes me laugh...guess who?? Oh just two clone troopers hanging out eating cake and ice cream. Thank you Jon and Libbie for these masks, they have had hours of fun playing with them.

May the Force be with you:)

Snowman Day

Today was Snowman Day at Ryan's preschool. They have been learning all about winter this month and today they were going to have a fun filled day with "snow" activities. Ryan does not like doing anything out of his normal routine so I was completely expecting him to throw a huge fit this morning and not participate. Just when I think I know what he'll do, he goes and surprises me:) Here he is leaving for school this morning in all his snowman best! I hope he at least waited until his sweet teacher got a class picture to disrobe. So proud of you little man.

"The flash hurts my eyes, mommy!!!!" Ryan is not what you would say much of a morning person. So strange because I am so pleasant in the AM. My parents are rolling at that one. Everyone knows better! If we could just start everyday at 10:00 it would be heavenly:)

My Babies

There are many that happen on a daily basis in our house that make me gasp, scream, cry, roll my eyes and laugh. This is one of the 'laughs'. I went into Ally's room tonight to find them both in Ally's crib. I took this picture and several things immediately made me laugh. One, Ally's bruised forehead (she walked into Ryan practicing t-ball-OUCH!), Ryan's mismatched PJ's, (he picks out all clothes except Sunday mornings), Ally trying to sneak a quick suck off her binky (We are trying to leave binky in her bed except at bedtime) and the fact that they are just having a ball. Thank you Lord for blessing my life with this picture...you always know what I need!

Look at that smile...he's actually smiling his real smile in a picture-WHAT?!?Maybe we've turned a corner.

Sweetness

I hope this makes you smile...I mean come on isn't little Lila precious! We had such a great time visiting with Kacey, Josh and Lila last week. Kacey is such a great little mommy!

She is starting to smile all the time, it's so cute her entire face lights up.

My brother-in-law is finishing up his second year of his child psychiatry fellowship in Houston and will be completely finished this June. We are so proud of him! I cannot imagine what it has been like to complete College, Medical School, Residency, Internship and Fellowship...14 years of schooling after high school!!! He is going to be the best child psychiatrist ever:). They are in the process of interviewing with hospitals and trying to figure out where they will be living this summer, so please be in prayer for the Warrens that they will have wisdom in this decision. Of course I want them to move to Waco but I want them to know that they are walking with the Lord wherever they go!

One happy aunt!

Some Wii action...Ally had some help from Uncle Josh:)

I was helping Ryan with some crazy boxing.

So much fun at Honey and GP's

Tinkerbell?

Between Ally's birthday and Christmas she has a lot of beautiful dress up clothes. One of her favorites is this Tinkerbell outfit (thank you Jenn!) She always has to add her own little flare to each outfit, which just cracks me up. Here's her latest creation...

These goggles are such a nice accessory to any outfit:). Ally thank you for making mommy laugh all the time. You are too funny!

Cousins

This weekend we got a visit from some of our very favorite people in the whole world, my nephews Stacey and Wyatt. Ryan and Ally were so excited they could hardly stand it. Watching them play together is hilarious and I am so thankful that we get to see all the Smith family pretty regularly. The night started out with a Jack-in-the-box picnic. Do you like my nutrious dinner. I am still on the "vacation" mode around here. Wonder when that will stop?

Then it was time for Movie night, Horton Hears a Who. Wyatt and Ally loved for about 20 minutes:).

Ryan is the oldest cousin and he was in charge (or so he thought!)

Ally was so excited the next morning that they were still here that she literally screamed with delight. She loves to give out BIG hugs. Wyatt also enjoyed the hugs and kisses.

I mean does it get any sweeter than this....?

After a "stacker" breakfast from Uncle Mark (which is a waffle topped with a powdered donut topped with a CARS vitamin. You would have thought he had given them puppies, they were so excited!) it was off to GP and Honey's for the afternoon. Yeah for the Wii:)

Just missing one sweet little Lila. We really did have a great weekend. Thanks Caryn!

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all had a great New Year so far! We were having fun with Pipe Cleaners at our house. I mean who doesn't like Pipe Cleaner fun:) Here are Ryan and Ally in action.

Here's what my little genius Ryan came up with. He wanted to make a sign for Daddy since he had been out of town. One smart little guy.

They were very pleased with our finished group project

Ally has been saying,"Happy New Year" a lot and for some reason she always gives a little arm pump while she's saying it. Pretty precious.

Here's to a great 2009!